In Oakland, a new HUB grows

HUB Oakland founders meet in their offices. Non-profit HUB Oakland aims to be a place to pump up the Oakland entrepreneurship scene. Brant Ward photo

What if you want to start a successful business, but also want to measure success by the good your business can do? And what if you are an entrepreneur, self-employed or a contract worker but want to work in a setting where you can feel like part of something bigger — maybe a place that provides everything from office space to a meditation room to coffee?

You might want to check out a HUB — one of more than three dozen affiliated but independent co-working/business incubator spaces around the globe. HUBs are already up and running in San Francisco (in the Chronicle building, in fact) and Berkeley, and soon, if all goes well, in Oakland.

You don’t have to have a plan to make a positive impact on the world in order to join HUB Oakland, said one of its co-founders, Ashara S. Ekundayo. Anyone can join. But spend some time there, she says, and you’ll probably end up wanting to. “You will be inspired, activated,” Ekundayo said. “The catalyst might be sitting right next to you.”